Going Beyond

You have your everydayoff-roader, and then you have this a competition spec off-road machine that even has some silverware toboast of.

- Aatish Mishra

Competition cars have a magnetic aura to them. It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t seen one up close. Seeing a Formula 1 car in the flesh with all its wings and aero addenda, even at standstill, is more of an event than watching one doing 320kph on the telly. Simply standing around a buggy that has been to the Dakar sends shivers down your spine. I’d know, I’ve been there. There’s a certain hallowed presence to machines that has seen the brutality of competition. It could be down to the singularity of purpose, or that they are the pinnacle of engineering, or simply the fact that they have been piloted by people with the ability to push them to the limits. Well, whatever it is, I was hit by a heady dose of it when I saw this monster parked at a garage on the outskirts of Mumbai, just before we had a go in it.

Here’s some context. There’s a competition called the Rainforest Challenge, an annual event that takes place in Goa, and it is quite easily the most hellish off-road competition in the country. True to its name, it takes place deep in the forests of Goa — so deep that you’ve probably never heard of the actual place. Does Quepem ring a bell? Exactly. Well, nutjobs from all over the country religiously make it down here every year in the peak of the monsoons to take on the wild outdoors. I’m pretty sure they are all closet masochists. They have to take on five days of relentless competition on stages that would have Bear Grylls shivering in his boots. One look at the kind of builds that turn up at the competition and you’d know it’s not a walk in the park. It isn’t the type of competition where you slap on mud tyres on to your stock Gypsy or Thar and turn up at the start line. The RFC requires months of planning — you’ve got to build the right vehicle, find the right crew, and train your body and mind to deal with the stress of competition.